Matt Maguire

Laura Miele, EA Games’ senior vice president of global marketing, said that the change of tone was a reaction to market research.

“We were doing research coming out of Dead Space 1 and 2 and we’re really proud of those products. We received feedback to understand how we can take the game out to even more consumers,” she said.

That same thinking was also behind the decision to add co-op to the game.

“We were hearing feedback that they [fans] love the thriller game, but it was pretty scary, and the obvious next step was that they wanted to play with someone,” said Miele.

“Personally, I would rather go to scary movie with my husband rather than sit at home with the lights out watching one on my own. We’re looking for that to reach out to consumers that perhaps were not open to Dead Space 1 and 2.”

Dead Space 3’s apparent shift from pure horror to buddy-action had many on the Internet despairing.

However, Miele insists those people will not be disappointed with the final product.

“The horror of Dead Space is still all there. It’s still true to its roots and no less scary, but people felt far more comfortable playing it with someone else than they did doing it on their own.”